Diane Prince (born 1952) is a painter, weaver, installation art practitioner and set designer and affiliates to the Maori iwi NgÃÂ Puhi and NgÃÂti WhÃÂtua from the north of New Zealand.
Prince was born in Wellington in 1952. She obtained tertiary education from Wellington Teachers' College and University of Auckland. In the 1970s, Prince was part of the Bastion Point protests including as a researcher, the protests and occupation resulted in the New Zealand Government returning the land to NgÃÂti WhÃÂtua in the 1980s.
Prince has been exhibiting artwork since 1986 nationally and internationally, much of her art revolves around MÃÂori rights, especially MÃÂori women's rights. She is often described as a multimedia artist as she creates installations, she weaves and she paints. Prince and artist Shona Rapira Davies are long time collaborators. In 1995, an installation artwork of Prince's bringing attention to New Zealand identity raised controversy leading to protests and the eventual removal of the artwork.
A solo exhibition of Prince's at the City Gallery in Wellington in 2001 is called Veiled Legacy. It was about the loss of legal status MÃÂori women experienced once laws from Britain were imposed after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The curator said of the work: Veiled Legacy are images of loss and alienation, but the paintings also speak of MÃÂori women's ongoing strength and resilience'.
A number of Prince's works are in the collections at Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand.